My grand nephew's view on the school shooting

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screwman
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My grand nephew's view on the school shooting

Post by screwman »

This is kind of a long read, but the kid makes me proud!
He pays for an education at this college, and this is what he gets.

From: Office of the President <presdesk@nova.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2018 12:46 PM
To: Cody
Subject: March for Our Lives

George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D.
President/Chief Executive Officer

NSU Students,

On March 24, 2018, people from all walks of life and from all parts of the country will unite with a common message to the U.S. President and Congress: “Reform gun laws now!” I reiterate here, as I have done publicly many times, that I believe NSU and all college campuses should be weapon-free zones.

I support the messages being carried forward at the march in Washington D.C., as well as the 700+ locations throughout Florida, and the people using their voices to effect change. I request that all students wishing to participate in these marches to work with their professors to ensure missed work can be made up.

Furthermore, I assure any high school students who are disciplined for missing class to participate in a march, that they will not be negatively affected for that reason when applying to Nova Southeastern University.

This bipartisan event has three goals:

Prohibiting the public sale to civilians of high-capacity magazines (which limit the number of bullets a gun can discharge at a time);
Prohibiting the sale to civilians of assault weapons (weapons of war); and
Closing loopholes in background checks so that dangerous people cannot buy guns. (Today, 22% of gun sales in the US take place without background checks.)
There are 10 march location in South Florida, and links to them are below. As President of NSU, I support our students’ First Amendment right to attend these marches and exercise their free speech.

Parkland: https://event.marchforourlives.com/even ... akid=&zip=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Coral Springs: https://event.marchforourlives.com/even ... akid=&zip=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

North Lauderdale: https://event.marchforourlives.com/even ... akid=&zip=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fort Lauderdale: https://event.marchforourlives.com/even ... akid=&zip=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pembroke Pines: https://event.marchforourlives.com/even ... akid=&zip=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Miami Lakes: https://event.marchforourlives.com/even ... akid=&zip=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Miami Beach: https://event.marchforourlives.com/even ... akid=&zip=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Boca Raton: https://event.marchforourlives.com/even ... akid=&zip=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

To find a march in another city click here: https://marchforourlives.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Sincerely,

George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D.


OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
3301 College Avenue • Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33314-7796 • (954) 262-7575 • Fax: (954) 262-3800 • Email: hanbury@nova.edu

Here is his response

Dear President Hanbury,
I am a freshman here at NSU. I love this University for being both academically challenging and environmentally stimulating but as of recent, I have felt repressed and censored based on my beliefs of the recent tragedy in Parkland, Florida. I am from Margate, Fl a little town about 10 minutes away from Stoneman Douglas High School. I attended JP Taravella High which is their rival school. I have made many friendships with the students and alumni of MSD and on Valentines Day, my family was personally affected by two of the lost souls in the Parkland tragedy. I give you this little background of me so you know my personal stake in this nations wide debate. I am writing this email to you in hopes that you will receive a better understanding of my perspective and others like me that lean to a more conservative side on this issue.

Let me first start off by saying that I do not have a political affiliation. I use logic and reasoning to decide on political issues that I personally feel would be good for the future of this country and generations to come. With that being said, I fear that students similar to myself that do not agree with gun reform laws are being forced to remain silent and not be able to exercise their First Amendment Right in fear of being outcasts in their personal life as well as the classroom or social groups. I am 18 years old and a gun owner. I have several firearms in my collection including a AR-15. I have been trained in gun safety since I was three years old by family members that are former or current members of the military. I have personally kept silent when I have sat in classrooms where the professors have talked about their personal political party's agenda while backlashing the opposing party. I am sure that this was mostly unintentional and that they were just passionate about a particular subject and were exercising their First Amendment Right, which they have every right to do, however, I feel this can be detrimental to the classroom enviorment for several reasons. One, it can make some students feel like their beliefs are invalid or unjustified, Second, it can make students who are undecided about the issue forced to pick a side based off of a one sided argument. Lastly, The American Journal of Psychiatry published an article on the affects of media about mass shootings. They determined that media content such as the email sent out to the student body can exasperate negative attitudes towards firearms due to emotional responses. NSU students and staff pride ourselves on the core values, one of them being diversity, and I feel that professors stating only their political party's agenda and not allowing the student body to voice their opinions, affects this core value.

I want to make it clear that I have the highest upmost respect for you and all of our professors here at NSU. I just want to make my opinion heard and point out some contradictions I have with the email that was sent out to the student body. During this time of debate, students like my self can be very impressionable especially in universities such as NSU where many of the students will become first time voters. It is because of this I feel that students should base their opinions on factual independent research like I have recently completed. First I want to bring to light the section of the email where you state one of the goals of the "bipartisan event" was "prohibiting the sale to civilians of assault weapons (weapons of war)". Webster dictionary defines an assault as " a violent physical and verbal attack". Assault is action! There is no such thing as a "assault rifle". This is a name created for propaganda purposes, As to where you call them "weapons of war", I can understand why you and most of the public would think this but if you look into the history of the AR-15 it is actually quite the opposite. AR-15 stands for Armalite Rifle. It was created in 1915 by the Armalite company. The rifle was invented for civilian use until Colt purchased the rights to the rifle and created the military variation, the M16. The AR-15 has always been a civilian gun, therefore it has never been a "weapon of war". It simply resembles features of the M16. Firearms in general are not one of the top ten causes of death according to Medical News Today. Rifles make up only a small percentage of crimes committed with a firearm, roughly 3%. Most are committed with a handguns.

The next statement I would like to point out is where you stated "22% of gun sales in the US take place without background checks". The Washington Post published an article in 2015, during the election, that stated while 22% of guns are acquired without a background check, only 7% of that is from gun shows. The remaining percentage is from gifts and family heirlooms passed down through generations. This being said, the Seattle Times published a article with cooperation from the FBI where they stated that in the past decades nearly 2 million stolen firearms were used in crimes and these are just the ones that were confiscated. Nicholas Cruz should not have been able to buy a gun but he did not buy it through a private seller. He purchased it through a licesend dealer. It was not the fault of the background check but the fault of the 39 incidents that should have been reported to the state that would have made him ineligible to purchase a firearm with the current firearm laws.

I would also like to address your statement that prohibiting the sale to civilians of high capacity magazines "which limits the number of bullets a gun can discharge at a time". A magazine simply is a vessel that holds the ammunition. It only has a minimum effect on the amount of casualties. It takes a trained shooter 1.5 seconds to reload a AR-15, according to the Blaze News. An olympic runner would not be able to react that fast, none the less a terrified victim or law enforcement officer.

I, in no way intended to insult you or any other faculty member with this email. I am simply exercising my First Amendment Right, as you stated, you encouraged NSU students to do. I simply am using mine in order to defend my Second Amendment Right as well. I feel that in a university that prides itself on providing some of the best educational support, that it not only stands with the students who agree with a certain political agenda but also supports the other side. You stated in your email that you support the students that are standing up for what they believe in that includes both sides. I believe that the diversity of the NSU community is what makes us one of the best schools in America. I apologize for such a long email. I and many others, like me, feel very passionate about this subject and I feel that both sides need to represented by the community. I do agree that there should be some changes to school security and no one should be afraid to go to school. I don't believe that gun reform is the issue and I believe that myself and other students who feel the same should be heard as well. Thank you for your time.


Sincerely,

Cody


These are my sources I received my information from.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/che ... f1b46d1e06" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assault" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/ab ... 3.13010014" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-wor ... of-crimes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fac ... cf603642f4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282929.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


https://www.theblaze.com/news/2013/01/1 ... ew-seconds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Mike

The American Indians found out what happens when you don't control immigration.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
gilly32
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Re: My grand nephew's view on the school shooting

Post by gilly32 »

That was very well written. He did an excellent job making his points without being confrontational.
"The right to keep and bear arms is rooted in both self-defense and insurance against government’s propensity toward tyranny. The right pre-existed the Constitution. Thus, the Second Amendment is not its source. The right to keep and bear arms is natural and inalienable; the Second Amendment protects it, and Congress has no legitimate power to restrict it." - Senator John Cornyn (R., Tex.), as reported in the National Review on July 4, 2016

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Re: My grand nephew's view on the school shooting

Post by M-Quigley »

I liked the content of the letter, but was curious about one thing. Did he make a typo, or was he referring to the company itself and not the AR-15 when he wrote this:
AR-15 stands for Armalite Rifle. It was created in 1915 by the Armalite company.
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Re: My grand nephew's view on the school shooting

Post by Tesser »

HIDDEN AUDIO: Broward County Teachers Caught Indoctrinating Students, Planning Illegal March

A meeting between Parkland students and anti-gun activists mobilizing for the highly anticipated March For Our Lives event in Washington, D.C. this weekend was captured on hidden audio Tuesday evening in Broward County, Florida.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiGC533pHH4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Liberty is the soul's right to breathe, and when it cannot take a long breath, laws are girdled too tight.

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kcclark
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Re: My grand nephew's view on the school shooting

Post by kcclark »

Getting so sick of reading "weapons of war." I like asking those folks why the M1903 Springfield, a true weapon of war, is never listed in the rifles they want banned. Funny how I never get an answer on that.
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Re: My grand nephew's view on the school shooting

Post by Javelin Man »

My 1841 Ames six-pounder is a true weapon of war, why isn't it being banned? :?
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screwman
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Re: My grand nephew's view on the school shooting

Post by screwman »

M-Quigley wrote:I liked the content of the letter, but was curious about one thing. Did he make a typo, or was he referring to the company itself and not the AR-15 when he wrote this:
AR-15 stands for Armalite Rifle. It was created in 1915 by the Armalite company.
Yeah, he had a typo. All in all though, he's young and standing his ground.
Mike

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Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
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Re: My grand nephew's view on the school shooting

Post by M-Quigley »

screwman wrote:
M-Quigley wrote:I liked the content of the letter, but was curious about one thing. Did he make a typo, or was he referring to the company itself and not the AR-15 when he wrote this:
AR-15 stands for Armalite Rifle. It was created in 1915 by the Armalite company.
Yeah, he had a typo. All in all though, he's young and standing his ground.
It's not a big deal. The anti's like to demonize the AR but despite the appearance factor it's still basically a semi auto with a detachable box magazine. (which has been around even prior to 1915)
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